


Tired Snake Kind of Ruins his own Plan but That's Okay, Right?

by FeathersOfBelle



Series: SanderSides One Shot and Ideas [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Dark Sides As Family (Sanders Sides), Deceit Sanders Has a Different Name, Dee and Ro are petty, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Knife Mention, Knives, Snakes, Swearing, Tired Deceit Sanders, deceit has 4 snakes, deceit's name is ethos, he got 2 hours of sleep, it's Remus guys, please let him nap, roman's a bit mean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23340982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeathersOfBelle/pseuds/FeathersOfBelle
Summary: From the prompt: "I believed you! Stood up for you! Defended you! And you lied!"Ethos is bored and just wants to sunbathe but Roman is suspicious and petty. After a fight, Ethos decides it's about time Remus met up with his brother again. Might not be the best idea in the long run when he's trying to get the light sides open to the idea of the dark sides. He promised he wasn't going to do anything rash. But he's tired and petty and just maybe Roman deserves it.
Series: SanderSides One Shot and Ideas [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678612
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44





	Tired Snake Kind of Ruins his own Plan but That's Okay, Right?

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment any spelling errors you see. I tried to get them all but its 2AM and I only went to be at 4AM last night.

Ethos jumped as his door was slammed open as Virgil marched in. “What the shit was that!”

“Good to see you too, Virgil.” He stood up taller as Virgil approached, setting his hat back on top of his hair.

\--

_ “Deceit!” _

The light sides were in the mindscape living room having a nice day relaxing when it was suddenly interrupted by Roman dropping the cup he had gotten from the kitchen as he pointed at the scaled side standing in the doorway. Ethos had gotten bored just sitting in his room so after bidding farewell to his ball python, Circles, he made his way to see if the common room was open. 

What identified whether the common room was open was depending on who was there. 

Logan usually ignored him when he wasn’t trying to get Thomas to lie. Sometimes he would look away from his book to glance at Ethos sunbathing on a chair or ask him a question about reptiles. Open. 

Patton was a little awkward with him and Ethos could tell he made the moral side a little uncomfortable but it wasn’t that bad. The silence could sometimes get too much and he would retreat back to his heat lamp and scaled companions in his room. Open. 

Virgil was a bit of a wild card, sometimes it would be fine but other days weren’t so good. Sometimes Virgil would remember the happy memories and be fine with him sitting there, sometimes asking questions about how he was or bringing up the old times. Other times, usually after having a nightmare or anxiety attack, Virgil would be tense around him at best or down-right hostile at worse. His mind would be set on the negative of life, the negative of when he hung out with Ethos. Open or closed, Ethos would stand in the doorway before he entered to gage Virgil’s emotional status before deciding. 

If Roman was there then the answer was a no, not a good idea. The creative side was so focused on the lying aspect of his job that he couldn’t see that  _ yes lying could be good _ . He needed a villain and Ethos was just that to him. Where do you think the inspiration for the Dragon Witch came from? As soon as he was noticed by Roman, he would get a finger pointed his way and his ‘name’ yelled accusingly at him. Closed.

Ethos had assumed it was an ‘open’ day but he hadn’t noticed Roman in the kitchen so when Roman walked back in, he stood shocked just a few feet from the hallway. He relaxed his figure and turned to face Roman with a bit of a blank look. “Such  _ lovely _ observation, Roman.  _ Love _ the new mug by the way.” He had noticed the mug that Roman had dropped onto the carpet was a new one, a black one but an image could be seen slowly forming from the heat of whatever liquid had been in it before it had spilt on the floor.  _ Cool idea _ .

“What are _ you _ doing here you slippery snake?” Roman accused, his hand moving to his side where his sword hung in its scabbard. 

“Can’t one just scheme while watching their future victims?”  _ Play along for a bit, then you can leave and go back the Circles, Rose, Fern, and Lemon.  _ _   
_

“Oh hey there Dee, I didn’t see you there. And Roman, what have we talked about jumping to assumptions?” Patton gave Ethos an uneasy smile but it was clear he was trying to be nice and softly scold Roman. Virgil has stiffened a bit at the aggression and sudden surprise entrance but turned to glare at the prince through his bangs, shoulders hunched over so he was crouched on the arm of the couch.

“Warn a guy before you suddenly scream, Princey. And I’m sure Deceit is just here to relax, like a normal person.” His eyes softened just the smallest bit at mentioning Ethos, probably remembering sometimes they had had fun together. Sometime before the great divide between ‘light’ and ‘dark’ sides. Ethos gave Virgil a small, yet thankful smile at him defending him. It would seem that Virgil was having a very good day, maybe they could even hang out with his snakes later, just like old times.

“Sorry my chemically imbalanced romance, but he’s a shifty slimy snake! I’m just making sure he won’t try anything.” Roman’s hand had moved to rest on the hilt of his sword while his other hand waved wildly in the air to exaggerate his words. 

Now usually Ethos would give a few snarky remarks and then leave, allowing Roman to believe he had won, but he had only gotten 2 hours of sleep and wasn’t feeling very  _ nice _ today.

“Roman, perhaps you should clean up your drink before you go and start swinging your sword around.” Logan stiffly reminded him, whether to actually get the mess cleaned or to try and remove Roman’s heated glare away from Ethos was unknown but he was a little thankful either way. Roman huffed before releasing his grip on his sword and summoning a rag to clean up the spill as he picked up the mug from the floor. 

Logan and Patton had gone back to their respective books, with small glances from Patton to them. Virgil remained perched on the couch as we watched Ethos, his gaze flicking back and forth between him and Roman who had finished cleaning and had unsummoned the items back to their respective places. Roman help his shoulders back and chin high as he crossed his arms over his chest and went back to glaring and threatening Ethos. 

With a sign, Ethos looked Roman dead in the eye refusing to back down. “Can’t a side just  _ enjoy _ a break in a common room?” Ethos had had enough of this today, he was running on too little sleep and was ready to just be done. “I really am just here to enjoy the day, I’m not  _ that _ prepared to ruin your day.”

“Just chill Princey. He’s really just here to relax, not whatever Disney plot you made up in the empty head of yours.” Virgil shot at him. Perhaps he was getting tired too. “He’s not gonna do anything, go make another cup of tea or whatever you had.” With the dismissal, Virgil pulled out his phone and went back to listening to his music.

Roman let out another huff as he stood still against the wall. As Ethos walked past to get to his favourite sunning spot; a nice, soft chair directly in view of the sun at this time of day, Roman stuck out his foot in a childish attempt to win the argument. Unfortunately, Ethos hadn’t been expecting this, having assumed they were over this, and Roman had been on his left, his eye not having the best vision on that side. Ethos stumbled a bit and turned to glare at Roman but the side only stuck out his tongue and snatched his hat right off his head. Roman, being a few inches taller than Ethos, held the hat as high as he could and Ethos knew he couldn’t just grab it. So he summoned his cane, a slim black cane with golden accents and a snakehead as a handle, and swept Roman’s feet out from under him and used the cane to pick up his hat from the fallen’s hand. He settled the hat back on his head and left the room with a knowing smirk ghosting his face.

If Roman wanted to be petty, Ethos could be very petty.

\--

As he walked by to his room, Ethos made sure to stop by the darker creativity’s room. He pushed open the door with the end of his cane, knowing that it was safer than standing in the way of another possible trap, and peeked inside when nothing happened.

Remus sat on the floor, humming to himself as he cleaned one of his knives, a few others lay scattered on the floor around him. At the sound of the door opening, he turned to look and his face brightened and a large grin split across his face. “Oh hey, DeeDee, what’cha doin’ here?” Ethos didn’t usually stop by at this time of day.

“When was the last time you saw your brother?” He asked. The effect was immediate. It was clear that Remus missed his brother, but he was also very confused as to where the question came from. 

“Pffft, last time we met was hmmmmm…. I dunno, maybe 4 years ago?” Remus was rocking side to side slightly as he thought. Picking up the knife he had just cleaned and started fiddling with it. “Why do ya ask?”

“Would you like to say hi and meet his new friends?” Ethos had a smirk pulling at his lips, oh this would be petty enough. He knew that Remus would overwhelm them, especially Patton. And while he didn’t have any reason to go after Patton, it wasn’t like he was sending Remus after  _ him _ . Remus was to go after Roman, if anything else happened, well. It’s not easy to control intrusive thoughts. “Because I think now would be a great time to go show Roman your new weapon.”

Remus instantly jumped up and ran to his wall, where the morning star stood against it, and ran back to Ethos with it in hand. Grinning widely and eyes shining. “Oh, that sounds like a wonderful idea! I bet I could even surprise him!” And with that Remus was off, cackling wildly.

\--

Watching Remus interact with the others was great, and Roman getting pushed around a bit? Wonderful.

Was sending Roman’s brother after him after the fight petty? Oh yes. Did Ethos care? No, in his sleep-deprived state this was the greatest thing ever. 

Ethos had met up with Remus in the hallway after he had left and was letting the other re-tell what happened with great enthusiasm. “He was so shocked! HA! And when I brought up the goldfish, oh their faces were great! And then-” Remus continued on and on as they walked down the hall back to their respective rooms. Remus managed to finish his story just as they made it to Ethos’ room. “And then I told him he missed out on a joke just before I left! I got the final word and shoved him off his drunk horse! Thanks for the idea Dee!” and he bounded around the corner. The faint noise of the morning star getting thrown across the room could be heard.

Entering his own room, Dee turned on the heat lamp in the corner by the pillows and started opening the cages. Circles came out first, his bronze colouring tinted faint rust from the red lamp. Then, Rose and Fern, Rose is a pink hognose while Fern is a smooth green snake, they share a cage after he found them together in a corner of the Imagination. Lemon was last, a white-lipped python whose scales shone of multiple colours but the red the strongest from the lamp. All four of his friends curled up by the big heat lamp together.

He was about to take his capelet off when the door burst open. Ethos jumped as his door was slammed open as Virgil marched in. “What the shit was that!”

“Good to see you too, Virgil.” He stood up taller as Virgil approached, setting his hat back on top of his hair.

“Why’d you do that! Do you know how bad of an idea that was!” 

“Roman wanted to play petty so we played. Besides, Remus was getting antsy and it’s been a while since they met.” Ethos looked at Virgil and could notice the slightly darker bags under his eyes and the way his hands were slightly shaking despite having them shoved into his hoodie pockets.

“You said you wouldn’t do anything rash! Nothing that would set back your progress!” Virgil took a hand out of his pocket to run his fingers through his hair. “They were finally warming up to the idea of dark sides hanging out with them and then you go and pull this shit?!”

For the past couple of years, Virgil and Ethos had been trying to slowly bring the others around to the idea of living with the dark sides. They both remembered how it was before the light vs dark split, and they both knew that the dark side place wasn’t the best. They were trying to get it back to how it was before. Back to the good old days.

“Virgil, I’m sure it’s going to be fine. Let’s just calm down and think about this, I just brought in a new component. It was going to happen either way,”

Virgil stood up straighter as he stared at Ethos. “I believed you! Stood up for you! Defended you!” He had taken both hands out of his pockets and was waving them around in his panic. “And you lied!”

Ethos knew he had to calm him down before Virgil went into a full-on anxiety attack or passed out. “Come on, Virgil. Deep breaths. I know I said I would be careful, and I know I lied but right now we need to focus on breathing,” Ethos has brought his voice lower and quieter, hoping that the dim, soft light from the lamp would help. 

\--

After calming down, Ethos and Virgil had talked about what they could do to help bring the others back around to the idea.

“Go back to them, you’re still their friend. Have fun, I’ll come by eventually and try to fix it. You just start slow and steady with the idea again, okay?” Ethos had pulled Virgil into the nest of blankets and pillows under the lamp. 

“Okay, I’ll start again. I’ll also explain that Remus was just excited to meet everyone and that he’s normally calmer,” Virgil said, sighing as he thought about the amount of mistrust and confrontation awaited him. 

They laid in silence for a bit before Virgil reluctantly got up with an ‘I’ve got to go start now then.’ as he left the room.

They had destroyed a bit of progress but that could be made up again. They had managed to introduce Remus to the group, which could be a plus. As Ethos thought about the day, he curled up with his scaled friends and drifted off under the blankets and heat lamp.

  
_ I wonder when I should share my name with the group. _

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear what you think! And kudos are always welcome!


End file.
